


Hearts

by Avery72



Category: British Actor RPF, Richard Armitage - Fandom
Genre: Doctors & Physicians, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3389282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avery72/pseuds/Avery72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Avery Nguyen has everything she could ever hope for. She was offered a cardiology fellowship in New York City and her best friend, Dr. Clive Winslett, would also be joining her at the same hospital for his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship. But when she happens to meet Richard Armitage, she realizes that maybe there is more to life than just being really good at her job.</p><p>Warning: lots of profanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you have as much fun reading it as I have had writing it.

I was folded in half on a park bench, stretching out my back and legs.

“Doctor!” someone called out.

I unfolded myself and looked around. I popped one headphone bud out of my ear and listened to see if the same voice would call out to me again. It was very possible I was delirious.

“Doctor!” the voice called again. It was my partner-in-crime since medical residency, Dr. Clive Winslett. He jogged towards me at an easy pace. I stood up and we did our “secret” handshake. “How the fuck are you doing?” he asked. Being half a foot shorter than Clive, he reached out and ruffled my hair.

I sighed as I fixed my ruined hair, which was pulled back into a sleek ponytail. “Thirty-six hours on-call makes you a little crazy. But what do you know about that? You’re a fucking surgeon, just slicing and dicing.” I made robotic chopping motions with my arms.

“Right, like you medical fuckers actually do anything besides talk. You fuckers only need to know how to say two things: 1) Let’s get a consult. And 2) I concur.”

I laughed at the joke, realizing that what he said was rather accurate. I was the cardiology, but Clive was my counterpart as the cardiothoracic surgeon. We met in Michigan three years ago when we were there for our residency programs; we both joked that we would end up doing fellowships together and no one was surprised when it actually happened.

 “Fuck off,” I replied. With a sigh, I said, “Do we have to work out today? I’m fucking tired.”

“But here you are,” Clive said with a wide grin. “Besides, you’re a fucking fat ass. Josh’s wedding is in two weeks! You have to look hot so we can get you a boyfriend.” I was petite at 5’5” and 110 pounds, but that was by virtue of Asian genetics. Clive’s mission was to get me into fighting shape.

“Fuck off. I’ve decided I’m going to be a crazy cat lady. And when I die, no one will know what happened to me because my cats will fucking eat me to survive.”

“Fucking weirdo.”

“You love me all the same.”

“I don’t love you. I respect you.”

“Aw, thanks.” I playfully punched in him the shoulder. “I’m glad I don’t fucking intimidate you like the last guy you tried to set me up with.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What was his name? Richard? Yeah, but went by Dickey!”

“Dickey was a nice guy.”

“Dickey thought I had fucking rabies, like I was going to bite him.”

“But you do bite.”

“I do not bite! I am the most professional and poised and immaculate cardiologist New York has ever had. Except when I’m around you.”

“Whatever, fucker.” Clive rolled his eyes. “Let’s get going.”

I rolled my shoulders. I couldn’t help but laugh on the inside that people were starting to stare at us. We were complete professionals when it counted, but otherwise we were riotous idiots. We spoke fast, loud, and with lots of profanity. We assumed it came from years of repressed mischievousness from medical school.

“Clive, do you have a pen?”

“Does surgical marker work?” He held up a fine-tipped marker from the pocket of his sweatpants.

I turned towards the two men who were sitting on the next park bench over. “May I borrow one of your hands?” I asked as I uncapped the surgical marker.

They answered my questions with confused, but moderately curious, expressions.

“You both owe me at least appetizers at a bar. You’ve been staring for long enough.” I was wearing all black Lycra, with purple highlights. I was not considered beautiful by American standards, but I did have all the right curves in all the right places.

Laughing, the more mature looking man of the two held out his hand. He had close-cropped dark hair and a good amount of stubbly facial hair. He had some crow’s feet and dark circles under his eyes, but the blue of his eyes were sharp. His nose was little too large for his face.

The man reminded me of Richard Armitage, but I hadn’t really been following his work due to the sheer amount of work I had as a medical resident. Sure, school was technically over, but I still had to work my ass off to get into one of the most competitive cardiology programs in the nation. Besides, I couldn’t rationalize why he would be here on a park bench entertaining me instead of off filming.

I wrote my phone number on his wrist.

Without saying anything else to the men, I capped the marker and tossed it back to Clive. “Alright, if I win this week, you owe me chocolate-covered Oreos and a bottle of wine,” I said to Clive as I started jogging backwards.

“If I win, you owe me pizza and beer for a week!”

“You’re not going to fucking win.”

“We’ll see about that, fucker.”

\---

My phone buzzed in the right pocket of my white coat. Without checking the caller ID, I answered, “Hello, this is Dr. Nguyen.” I was sitting in the doctor’s longue, nursing a cup of coffee and reading a medical journal.

“Hello, this is Richard Armitage.”

I didn’t reply, not knowing what to say. My mouth dropped open and my hand started shaking slightly. Finally, I managed to squeak out, “Excuse me?”

“The man from the park yesterday morning. You wrote your phone number on my wrist.”

“Ah,” I said, remembering. “I didn’t think you would actually call.”

Damn. It really was Richard Armitage. I couldn’t help the small smile that formed on my lips. I flirted with Richard Armitage.

I could hear Richard shrug on the other end of the line. “Lee Pace and I would like to take you out for dinner. We were thinking Thursday night at 8:00PM?”

The high-pitched whine of my pager ripped through the air. “Sure,” I said with as much nonchalance as I could muster. “Text me the details. I have to go. You know, saving lives and shit.”

\---

Richard and Lee had chosen the most beautiful and fancy restaurant in the city. I paled when I Googled their selection because there was no way in hell I would ever be able to afford dinner there on my own.

I wore a short and simple black dress that hugged my curves. I work black stilettos and some simple gold jewelry. I slipped my phone and wallet into the pockets of my marble grey pea coat.

On the taxi ride over, I had to continue chanting myself to keep calm. Clive reassured me, saying that if I could charm the pants off the most cantankerous patients, then I could charm the pants off Richard and Lee.

I walked into the restaurant. The head waiter looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked if I had a dinner reservation. I said I was meeting two gentlemen here at 8:00PM. I was led to a table in the back corner, relatively hidden in the vast dining space.

Both Richard and Lee stood up.

“I said appetizers at a bar,” I said as Lee pushed my chair in for me as I sat down. “Not the fanciest place in New York City. Dinner here probably costs the same as my medical school tuition.”

Lee shrugged. “You’re a lady; we thought should treat you as such.”

I laughed. “Right… Because the morning we briefly crossed paths, I emitted feminine grace, beautiful, and charm.” I cleared my throat. “Sorry.” I smoothed the napkin on my lap. “That was rude. I meant to say thank you. You both are very thoughtful.”

The two men looked at me and I looked back at them. Now that the dinner was happening, no one really knew how to proceed.

“This is not a prank is it?” I asked, looking around the restaurant. “No one is going to jump out and say I’ve been duped? I still can’t believe that I’m on a date with two of the finest actors in the world.”

“No, no,” Richard said. “This is real.”

“We thought you were interesting,” Lee said. “Wanted to take you out to get to know you a little better.”

I sipped at my glass of water. I noticed my hand was shaking slightly. “I’m really not that interesting. Clive, the man who was with me, somehow brings out the wild and reckless side of me. We sort of use each other to blow off steam from work, I suppose.”

“What do you do?” Lee asked.

“I’m a cardiologist. Clive is my counterpart, as a cardiothoracic surgeon.”

“Very smart and sassy,” Richard mused. “I like you more and more.” He uncorked the bottle of wine at the table. “Wine?”

“Yes, please.”

Richard poured and I lifted the wine glass to my lips. I took a sip and savored the flavor; these men knew how to choose good wine. I noticed that my hand was still shaking slightly despite my best attempts at willing myself to hold steady.

“Look at me,” I said, holding my shaking hand out above the table. “I battle death on a daily basis. But put me at a table with two gentlemen and I’m terrified.”

We ordered dinner and settled into conversation as we waited. We swapped stories and experiences. We shared our professional and personal goals. We shared jokes. I even sternly lectured Lee about the health risks of smoking.

“I know, I know,” Lee said, holding up his hands in defense against the onslaught of my lecture. “It helps me to cope with stress.”

“I know a great psychologist. If you have to smoke to cope with stress, then you’ve got some very serious mentaln problems. Smoking to relieve stress is like using duct tape to fix the Brooklyn Bridge. And if you smoke because of an oral fixation, you still have some serious mental problems.”

“Do you talk to your patients like this?” Lee asked, jokingly.

I took it the wrong way. I was very sensitive about my career; it was what defined my entire life. “I have patients because their mothers smoked during pregnancy and they have heart defects.” I glared at Lee. “I have patients because they were deceived into thinking smoking was a good idea. I have patients because they were exposed to second-hand smoke.”

“You’re unapologetic,” Richard commented, breaking the tense silence.

“Why should I be?” I asked, turning my glare on him.

I was about to make another retort, but stopped myself in time. This is what Clive meant when he said that I bite. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I’ve had to fight every step of the way. I’m a small Vietnamese-American woman in a White male dominated field. No one respects me unless I fight and beat them.”

\---

At the end of dinner, both Richard and Lee insisted that they escort me home. They made up some silly excuse that I had only been in New York City for a few months and was still naïve to its darker side.

We stood outside my doorstep and I pulled my keys from my coat pocket. “Thank you both for dinner. It was delicious and I had a wonderful time. I think protocol is for me to ask if you want to come up for tea or coffee. But my apartment is a mess, so… sorry.”

Richard and Lee laughed.

“Maybe next time?” Richard asked.

“Sure,” I replied. “Next time you’re in New York City, after returning from filming some mega-blockbuster, if you remember, give me a call.”

“Oh, I will,” Lee said. “You’re the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“I’m glad,” I replied. “Goodnight, gentlemen.”

I disappeared into my building and literally bolted up the stairs into my apartment. I closed the door behind me and pressed my back against the door. I put my hands over my mouth to stop the giggles that were bubbling up inside me. I fished my phone out of my pocket and called Clive.

“How was dinner, Winnie?” he asked.

“I fucking went on a fucking date with fucking Richard Armitage and Lee Pace. What the fuck?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Dr. Nguyen,” I said answering my phone.

“Do you ever answer with a ‘Hello’? Like a normal person?”

I chuckled. “I’m at work. I don’t always check caller ID and saying my name is a professional way to answering anyone who might call.”

It had been six months since I last saw Richard. We casually kept in touch via email and text, but this was the first time he ever picked up the phone and called me. Every nerve in my body was humming with excitement at the sound of Richard’s voice, but a small part of my brain worried that something was wrong and that was why he was calling me.

Lee and I were a lot better at maintaining our friendship. I didn’t email and text him as much as I did Richard, we talked to each other on the phone at least one a week for about an hour. And Lee happened to be filming in Detroit, which allowed him to come home to New York City more often or me to visit him on set. We found out that we had a mutual interest in taking road trips. There was something introspective and zen about taking a road trip and watching the scenery pass you by.

“Well… Hello, Doctor,” Richard said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, or if you’ve been too busy saving lives, but I’m doing a production in New York City in two months. I was wondering if you would like to come.”

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “Definitely. Just let me know as soon as possible so I can make sure I’m not working overnight or on-call.”

“Yeah,” Richard said. “It would be really terrible to having you running out of the auditorium after your pager makes that terrible high pitched whine.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“You’re just so used to it. It’s like what they say about doctors not knowing how bad they smell.”

“Are you saying I smell bad?”

“No…” Richard teased. “I just think that the antiseptics they use to clean hospitals kills your sense of smell.”

We laughed.

There was a pause. “How are you doing, by the way?” Richard asked.

“I’m really well,” I replied. I leaned back in my chair and was smiling like an idiot at the ceiling. “How are you, Richard?”

“I’m glad to hear that.” I heard shrug on the other side of the line. “Work is fun, as usual. Not having any weird dreams, so that’s good. I kind of miss home.”

“At least, in two months you’ll be back! I’ll throw you a party.”

Richard chuckled. “Anyway, I’ll reserve a seat for you and text you the details. Looking forward to seeing you soon.”

“You, too.” Before I hung up, I remember Clive. “Oh, do you think you can get a seat for Clive, too? He’ll be so fucking disappointed if he misses out.”

“For you? Anything. See you soon.” Richard hung up.

I knew that he didn’t mean it when he said that he’d do anything for me. It was just a lovely sentiment Richard said to be polite and funny. But a small voice niggled at the back of my head saying that there was possibility he did mean it. Just maybe…

I couldn’t stop the butterflies in my stomach from fluttering around. I bit my lower lip and tried to kill the smile on my face.

“Jeez,” I said aloud to myself. “You’re like a horny teenager meeting Justin Beiber. You have to cut out this nonsense. Can’t go walking around the hospital with that smile on your face; it would freak people out.” I sighed and rose from my chair.

I straightened my white coat and said to myself, “Right. As you were. Before Richard Fucking Armitage called you.”

\---

Clive and I took our seats, which happened to be the best seats in the auditorium. I couldn’t say that I was surprised; I was invited to attend by the lead actor after all.

I also couldn’t stop smiling. Clive had teased me about the fact all day, starting with a text in the morning asking me if I woke up with a smile on my face. I retorted that I was always smiling. To which Clive responded with, “You’re always smiling. But, Winnie, you have a special smile when you’re thinking about you-know-who.”

“Don’t your cheeks hurt?” a very familiar voice said next to me. Lee Pace.

“Lee!” I exclaimed, rising to my feet and giving him a big hug. Lee leaned over and we kissed each other on the cheek. “How are you?”

“I’m great. How are you?”

“Really excited to be here. I’ve been here for almost a year and never went to a play before. And I haven’t seen Richard for six months!” Just saying Richard’s name made my smile just a little bit bigger.

“Shame you picked this one… I heard that Richard was total rubbish in the play,” Lee said when we both sat down in our seats.

“Should we boo as soon as he steps on stage?” I asked.

“Yes!” Lee said. Then leaning past me, he offered to shake hands with Clive. “Dr. Winslett, good to see you again. How are you?”

Clive grinned at Lee. “Just the same as always. Making fun of this little fucker here for that stupid fucking smile she’s had on her face all fucking day.”

Lee tossed his head back and laughed. Oh, he knew about my not-so-secret crush on Richard. Apparently my co-workers noticed, too; they didn’t know it was Richard making me behave this way, but they knew I had someone on my mind.

“Oh,” I said, placing a hand on Lee’s arm, “How’s quitting smoking?” I had been pestering Lee about quitting since the dinner, but Lee didn’t agree to do anything about it until four months ago. We created a whole timeline, where he would slowly smoke less and less until he gave it up entirely. Lee didn’t want to take prescription medication, so I recommended brands of nicotine patches and gums that my patients said they like.

Lee shrugged. “I have good days and bad days. Sometimes it’s just hard because I feel like I need to be holding the cigarette in my hand, even if I don’t want to smoke it. Anyway, I’m at a quarter of a pack a day now.”

I opened my arms to give Lee another hug, which he was more than happy to oblige me with. “I’m so glad to hear that!” I planted a big kiss on Lee’s forehead. “I am so, so proud of you.”

\---

After the play, the three of us went backstage of congratulate Richard on his excellent performance. I got the opportunity to meet some of the other cast members and the incredible stage director. We took photos and I had them sign my Playbill.

“Want to come over for a little?” Richard asked.

Clive and I looked at each other, not wanting to the first to agree and seem over-eager to hang out with Richard. We smiled our conspiratorial smiles at each other.

“I brought back several bottles of wine from Italy…” Richard added, his voice dripping with seduction.

“I’m in,” I said without any further hesitation.

“Me, too,” Clive and Lee said at the same time a few seconds behind me.

“Perfect,” Richard said. “I have to greet fans, so I’ll meet you there in 30?”

Lee looped an arm around mine. “I’ll take Avery with me. I feel the itching to smoke and I know she won’t let me. Clive will hang out with you.” As Lee steered me away, he looked over his shoulder and winked at Clive. I saw the wink and I instantly knew that Lee and Clive had come up with some kind of plan that would lead to my embarrassment.

In the taxi ride over to Richard’s home, Clive initiated the plan. “Listen, Richard,” he said. “I know you haven’t been around, so there’s no way for you to really know. But you have to help me out. Winnie has talked about you non-stop for the past six months and I fucking swear if you don’t do something about it, I’m going to have to cut my fucking ears off. And it’s not just me. Poor Lee is going insane listening to her babble about you.” Clive made a gesture with his hands to mimic an explosion.

“So this is what you’re going to do. You’re either going to ask her out on a proper date or you’re going to tell her you’re not interested.”

Richard crossed his arms over his chest. “Really?”

Clive nodded. “Please. Lee and I are going crazy from her craziness about you.”

“I have a strict policy against dating fangirls…”

Clive laughed. “She wasn’t a fangirl until you guys had that dinner thing. But whatever, your choice.” But before Richard could respond, Clive added, “She’s a great woman.”

Richard chuckled. “Okay.”

\---

Clive got up to take a fake phone call. Lee used the break in conversation and got up to use the restroom. That left Richard and me sitting on the couch in limbo.

Richard leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He clasped his hands together. “So… there’s something we need to talk about…”

It suddenly clicked that Clive and Lee were conspiring to get Richard to ask me out on a date. I turned bright red in embarrassment, thinking that Richard was going to do his best to let me down gently. Of course someone like him wouldn’t be interested in dating a foul-mouthed, work-obsessed woman like me. I wondered if this was what having a heart attack felt like.

“I know we haven’t really kept in touch since dinner several months ago… But I haven’t been able stop thinking about you,” Richard said. “And I’m not dense enough to not realize that the same applies to you.” He smirked at me.

“I know it’s a little selfish of me, asking a woman such as yourself to entertain the possibility, but I was wondering if you’d like to get dinner with me. As a real date.”

I didn’t know what to say. I felt my jaw slacken and my tongue went entirely numb. Even if I could move my lips, I was so overwhelmed by emotions that there were no words for me to say.

“Avery?”

“Yes,” I mumbled. I cleared my throat. “Yes,” I said more clearly and firmly.

Leaning over, I whispered into his ear. “I thought you’d never ask. As much as I love Lee Pace, I always preferred you, anyway.”


	3. Chapter 3

Richard sighed and leaned back in his chair. He knew that press junkets were a part of the job, but he was so exhausted this time around. He was in London for two nights, then in LA for two nights, and now in New York City. He tried to sleep on the flight, but was too excited about coming home that he couldn’t.

He cursed himself for not sleeping and willed himself to not let the headache make him exceptionally moody. He was grateful that the questions were so repetitive that he could answer them without actually paying attention. His thoughts were solely focused on the joy and elation he would feel to finally curl up in bed with me.

Folding one arm across his chest, Richard closed his eyes and massaged his temples. Richard heard someone announce that the next interviewer was coming in, but he didn’t look up.

Logan Lerman gently nudged his co-star with his elbow as I walked in. Logan and I had never met before, so he actually thought I was the next interviewer.

I held a finger to my lips and I sat down in the chair across from the two actors. Richard continued looking down and rolled his shoulders, stretching his neck out. I hadn’t said anything, so Richard thought I was still preparing myself. He was going to wait until the last possible minute before engaging in dull conversation yet again.

“Uh… Hello,” Logan said.

“Logan, right?” I said with a smile. “I’m Avery.” We leaned forward and shook hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Richard finally looked up and his heart stopped in his chest. His mouth dropped open just a fraction, before it was replaced with a wide grin. He chuckled with happy surprise.

“Hi,” I said. I smiled back at Richard

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“This is the first time you’ve done a press junket in New York City. Did you really think I wouldn’t finagle my way in?” I gave him a pointed look. “Anyway, I bullied them into giving me a 10 minute slot, so…” I pointed at the bag next to my feet. “I brought you food! I have no idea how these things work, if they feed you at all.”

I looked my boyfriend up and down. “Guessing by how pale and thin you look, I’m going to guess the answer is no.” I shrugged and pulled the bag onto my lap. “Anyway, I brought you some tea, two different sandwiches, a salad, some snacks, and chocolate.” I handed over each item as I lifted it out of the bag and announced it.

I smiled softly at Logan. “I’m sorry; I didn’t know that there would be two of you, so I didn’t bring you anything.”

Richard chuckled and offered one of his sandwiches to Logan, who was more than happen to accept. “We can share. You brought more than enough food to feed two people.”

Logan laughed. “Thank you so much for bringing food; I’m starving!” He took a large bite of his sandwich. “How do you know Richard?” he asked as he swallowed.

I raised an eyebrow at Richard. I wasn’t upset that he didn’t tell anyone; total secrecy was the name of the game to maintaining privacy. I just wasn’t sure how Richard wanted to proceed. I figured that if Richard hadn’t told Logan yet, then there probably was a reason why.

“This lovely lady is my girlfriend,” Richard said nonchalantly.

Logan nearly spit his food back out. He looked at me and then at Richard and then back at me. “You mean this is the doctor?”

I laughed. “You don’t say?” I was wearing my regular navy blue scrubs. I had my pager clipped to my left hip and my stethoscope holstered on my right hip. I left my white coat back the hospital. I also smelled like the strong antiseptics used in the hospital.

“Sorry!” Logan said quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

I laughed even harder. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Richard talks about you as if you were some ethereal princess. We didn’t know if he was shitting us or not.”

I raised an eyebrow at Richard. “Ethereal princess?” I leaned back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest. “Huh. I guess there’s a first time for everything.” Richard rolled his eyes.

I did my best to keep up the banter and get the two men to relax. Logan was clearly enjoying himself. Richard was somewhere in between: chuffed to bits to see me, but tortured that he couldn’t take me home right then and there.

Seven minutes into my press junket session, my pager went off. Logan jumped at the sudden high pitched alarm. I chuckled as I unclipped the page from my hip and held it up for Logan to see. “No,” I joked, “it’s not going to explode.”

I read the message and howled with laughter. Clive had sent me, “SOS hospital is sinking ship. Bring lifeboat.” Regaining my composure, I smiled at Richard and Logan. “Sorry,” I apologized. “I have to get back to work.” I stood up and clipped my pager back into its cradle.

Logan stood up to shake hands with me. “Thank you for bringing food. This was a lot of fun.”

“My pleasure,” I replied giving him a quick hug instead.

Richard stood up to hug me, as well. We wrapped our arms tightly around each other. Bowing his head, he whispered, “I love you,” into my ear. “I can’t wait to see you at home.”

“I love you, too,” I replied. I kissed him on the cheek and separated myself from him.

“Hey, everyone! Look way for a minute. Cover your eyes.” Richard reached out and pulled me back into his arms; he kissed me repeatedly. I stood up on my tip-toes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and leaned against him.

We pressed our foreheads together, catching our breaths.

“Have fun at work.” Richard kissed me one more time for good measure.

“Oh, I fucking will,” I replied.

\---

After dinner and several rounds of mind-blowing sex, I was reclining in bed and scrolling through my work email. Richard was lying on his stomach, one arm wrapped around my waist and his head using my abdomen as a pillow. Richard was utterly spent; he fell asleep instantly after we showered and crawled back into bed. I was used to being up late at night, so I had a harder time falling asleep.

As I combed my fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp with my free hand, I thought about the past ten months of our relationship. I chuckled, still not quite believing that relationship had lasted ten months. Those ten months had been a fantastic ten months for me: I moved in with Richard, Clive married an OB/GYN, I solidified my friendship with Lee, and I proved myself as a fucking good cardiologist.

My hand came to rest on top of Richard’s head as I realized that I had less than a year and a half of my fellowship left. In a few months, I would be taking my licensing exams and looking for a permanent career. A wave of anxiety washed over me as I realized that I was reaching the end of this particularly chapter of my life. I had come to terms the fact that Clive and I were going separate ways; he and his wife had their sights set on settling down in San Francisco.

I had the option to follow them; Clive and I still held onto hopes of working together. “But what about Richard?” I mumbled to myself. “What indeed?” I bent over and kissed Richard on the top of his head. “Would you follow me wherever I went?” I asked him silently.

Every decision I had made up to this point was centered on my career. I ended a very healthy relationship with my boyfriend in medical school because he wouldn’t follow me for my residency. I also didn’t have any serious relationships during my residency because I would always place my career first. They thought I had it backwards; people worked to live, not lived to work.

Richard must have felt me sigh because he stirred in his sleep and blearily looked up at me.

“You still up?” he asked groggily. He yawned.

I leaned over and gave Richard a kiss. “Yup,” I said.

“You okay?” he asked. He gave me a squeeze and I made a little yelp.

“I’m not tired. I think I will read for a little bit and then try to sleep.” I ruffled his hair. “You can go back to sleep, love.”

Richard sat up. “What are you reading?” he asked. “I’ll read with you.”

I pulled out a worn copy of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ , a personal favorite since high school, out from the nightstand drawer. Richard took the book from my hands; he wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I nestled into the perfect sized crook under his arm. I leaned against this strong frame and enjoyed the feel of his warm skin. It was also my turn to my wrap my arms around him and use him as a pillow.

Setting the bookmark aside, Richard read to me until I was on the verge of falling asleep. He closed the book, tucked me into bed, and reached over to turn out the lights. Lying next to me, Richard whispered, “I love you.”

\---

“On behalf of the Armitage Army, I have to ask. What is your relationship status?”

Richard shook his head and dropped his gaze to his feet. “I am in a relationship,” he mumbled, blushing slightly. Even though Richard and I were in a great place in our relationship, he was still shy about the topic with anyone not in his close circle of friends. We still took several precautions to avoid being seen in public together.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes,” Richard said, a little more clearly but not very loud.

“Who is she? What is she like? How long have you been together?”

Richard shook his head, internally debating whether he should say something or not. The interviewer was patient and let Richard take all the time he needed to settle his internal debate.

Richard cleared his throat and leaned forward slightly, as if sharing a secret. “There’s a saying that in every couple, there is the nice one and the mean one. Despite my reputation for being foul-tempered and moody, I’m the nice one.” He laughed. “But in all seriousness, because I’m a big guy people sort of look at me as the inherent protector. By she’s actually the one who does all the caretaking.”

“Can you tell us what the best part about being this relationship is?”

Richard giggled. “Besides… you know, the obvious?” He giggled a little bit more. “I look forward to coming home. Because we live together, she keeps the house warm and feeling alive. It’s really nice coming home to that after a long job. Nothing compares to curling up in the arms of the woman you love.” He smiled. “Who’d have thought I’d be lovesick in my late forties?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter and the next chapter are the two I have had the most fun writing. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Warning: sexually suggestive content. My inner nerd came out and I thought it was too funny not to include.

Now that our relationship was public information, Richard and I were more willing to share snippets of our life together with his fans. It started with a photo of us standing in front of a very large and elegantly crafted wine cellar. We were holding hands and a glass of wine each. But the shot was taken so that it only showed the shoulders down. Richard captioned the photo with, "You need nothing more than good wine and Winnie. #wishyouwerehere"

We were on a wine tasting tour in Napa Valley, California. I had passed my cardiology boards with flying colors, which wasn’t that significant of an accomplishment, but we used everything we could as an excuse to spend time together. We decided to meet there because I was in San Francisco for a job interview and Richard was in LA filming. Richard wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of me moving to San Francisco, but he knew how important my career was to me, so he encouraged me to do my best.

Then there was a photo of us in Austin, Texas. After they caught wind of Clive’s recent marriage, my parents had intensified their effort to get me to settle down. They didn’t believe me when I told them that I was in a very happy and healthy relationship with a man who respected my career aspirations. My parents were convinced that, like I had once joked to Clive, that I was going to end up as a crazy cat lady and when I died no one would know what happened to me because my cats would eat me to survive. When I complained to Richard about it one night, he said that he wanted to meet them.

In the photo, we were standing in the cabin of the airplane, just after we landed. Richard was adjusting his jacket and, although I was cut out of the photo, my hands were adjusting his tie. He captioned the photo with, “Meeting the parents, today. I need all the luck I can get because Winnie says they’re intense. #wishyouwerehere”

A few hours later, Richard posted, “In case you were wondering.... Winnie’s parents are hardcore Vietnamese intense, in the best way possible. They’re very good people. I’m exhausted. #wishyouwerehere”

A few months later, Richard and I were in Prague together. I had never been to Prague and Richard invited me out to visit the set. We took a photo on a carousel; I was riding a lion side-saddle on a carousel and Richard was standing on the platform next to me, one arm wrapped around my waist. Richard was smiling into the camera, but my head was out of the frame. Richard captioned the photo with, “I joined the circus with Winnie; we’re lion tamers! #wishyouwerehere”

A few months after that, I finished my fellowship. It was such a bizarre feeling, waking up one morning and knowing that I had nothing to do and nowhere to be. I had nothing to prepare for. There were no ceremonious claxons or parties announcing that I finished all that I had set out to do. I thought I would be enveloped by a sense of fulfillment. I was very proud of myself, but I also felt lost. Now that I had reached my final destination, I no longer had a plan of what I wanted to do. And it didn’t help that Clive and his wife were packing up and preparing to move to San Francisco.

I had a variety of job offers, from San Francisco to New York City. I didn’t have to make a decision for another two weeks, and even then my job wouldn’t start until another two months.

Richard had come home for a week to celebrate the end of my fellowship with me. He spent two days taking me around New York City, doing all the tourist activities we never did despite being here for three years. Like with most our trips, Richard uploaded a photo of us to his social media. He took a photo of me leaning over a railing, my back turned to the camera, and looking at the Statue of Liberty. He captioned the photo with, “My girl in my city. #wishyouwerehere”

\---

“What’s next for Dr. Nguyen?” Richard asked over dinner.

“I don’t know…” I absently poked at my food. Clive and wife had taken off four days ago. I put my fork down, no longer interested in eating. “It’s only been a few days and I miss the Drs. Winslett so fucking much,” I cried. “I just want to jump on a fucking plane and take off after them.”

“What about me?” Richard asked.

I swatted the comment off. “You’re a nomad. You’d follow me anywhere.”

Richard didn’t respond to my comment right away. “That may be true… but I was hoping that you’d stay here.” He nervously bit his lower lip. “You know, live here in New York City with me.”

“I don’t know…” I replied, sagging into my chair. My fingers drummed on the edge of the table. “You’re not even here that often. At least if I go to San Francisco I’ll always have my family around me.”

“Maybe I could convince you to stay?” Richard asked, reaching across the table and taking one of my hands in his. “We could start a family here and you’d never be alone?”

I looked up at Richard. Our eyes met and he held my gaze. I had entertained the possibility of marrying him a few times over the past few months, especially after he met my parents. But I still wasn’t expecting to hear the suggestion come from his mouth. The idea of settling down with Richard excited me because I couldn’t imagine passing through life with anyone else; but the idea also terrified me because I had barely started my career and I knew in my heart of hearts I wasn’t ready to settle down.

Richard broke eye contact first. He stood up without saying anything and walked into his office. I thought he had misinterpreted my surprise at his question. My heart sank into my stomach, thinking that I had somehow offended the man I loved most of all. But he soon returned, holding something in his hand. He kneeled down next to me and offered me a ring.

It was a gold ring with a large round cut diamond framed by smaller round cut diamonds. There were also more diamonds adorning each side of the center. The center diamond was set into the ring so that it didn’t protrude too much; I could still wear the ring to work without much problem.

“I’ve had this for a while,” Richard admitted. “The plan was for you to choose to stay here, then I would propose, and everything would be perfect.” He shrugged. “But I will follow you anywhere you go. If you want to move to San Francisco, we’ll move to San Francisco. It would be hard on me, but I’d do it because I love you and I’m going to make it work. These past few years, I have never been alone because I have always had you. You are my family.”

Richard cleared his throat. “Dr. Avery Nguyen, my dearest Winnie, will you marry me? And accept me as your family? I promise I will do everything I can to ensure that you are never alone again.”

I held out my trembling hand and Richard slipped the ring onto the fourth finger of my left hand. The ring fit perfectly and we admired the way it looked on my hand. I looked up from the ring at Richard, who had a gigantic smile on his face.

“Yes, Richard Armitage, I will marry you. Yes, I will stay here in New York City because a relationship involved compromise. And yes, I will start a family with you and we will never be alone again.”

We laughed. I threw my arms around his neck and Richard wrapped his arms around me. We kissed.

\---

“Hey, Doctor,” Richard said in an intentional bad imitation of a seductive voice. Richard was leaning against the bedroom door frame in what was also an intentional bad imitation of a seductive pose.

I looked up from my medical journal and burst out in laughter. “What are you doing?” I asked in between my laughs. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him. Richard was wearing a scrub top with no trousers and a white coat. He had a stethoscope wrapped around his neck and fake plastic, thick-framed glasses.

“I heard someone has heart troubles and needs some…” He propped his hands on his hips and stood in such a manner that emphasized his pelvis. “Sexual healing.” Richard winked at me.

I lost all sense of composure. I doubled over, covered my face with my hands, and laughed hysterically.

He straightened up and pouted a little. “You don’t like it?”

“This is the most fucking ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,” I said. I was now gasping for breath because I couldn’t stop laughing. “I wish I had recorded that so you can see just how fucking ridiculous you are.”

Richard shrugged it off. “Anyway, let me take a listen to that big ticker of yours.” Richard took a seat on the edge of the bed next to me. He pulled the stethoscope from around his shoulder and popped the earpieces in. He slid his hand up my shirt and placed the cool metal surface on my chest.

I did my best to control my breathing so he could hear my heart beat.

“Hm…” He removed his hand from under my shirt and replaced the stethoscope around his shoulders.

“What’s the diagnosis, Dr. Armitage?” I asked.

In a dramatic motion, Richard pulled the glasses from his face and said, “Tachycardia.” I nodded at him, impressed he even knew the word. “And premature ventricular contractions,” Richard added.

He pulled a stern expression. “It seems that I make your heart race and skip beats.”

What little control I had regained over myself was gone instantly. “Where the fuck did you learn that?” I asked.

Richard looked away for a fraction of a second. “Clive…” he admitted.

“You outsourced our foreplay to Clive?” I thought it wasn’t possible to laugh even harder than I already had that night, but it was. “This just fucking keeps getting better and better.”

Richard mumbled sheepishly, “He said it worked on his wife...”

I shook my head, pulling myself back under some control. “I have to admit it,” I said. “It is a bit sexy.” I grabbed Richard by his coat’s collar and pulled him in for a kiss.

“By the way, the stethoscope is for you.” Richard said when it started to get in the way of our kissing. He placed it in my hands. “Now that you’re a real cardiologist, I thought you might want one of the new, fancy ones.” He grinned at me.

“I was wondering where you got that,” I said. I popped the earpieces in and tried the stethoscope on Richard. I sighed with how beautiful and crisp the sound on his heart beat was. I was even able to easily pick up secondary heart valve sounds. “Thank you, I love the gift.”

“I’m glad.”

I carefully placed the stethoscope on my nightstand. “Now, Dr. Armitage, what do you recommend to treat my tachycardia and premature ventricular contractions?”

Richard shed his white coat and pushed me down on the bed with his own body. In between kisses, he said, “The medical community recommends you relax and enjoy yourself.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's an Armitage wedding!

“What do you think?” I asked, stepping out from my bedroom. I wore a red, A-line cut, satin dress. The dress had a high neckline with lace illusion back detailing. The dress had three-quarters length lace illusion sleeves and was knee-length. I wore matching red shoes.

Putting the dress on was the final step of the process. In the morning, Clive and I went to get my makeup and hair professionally done. My makeup was modest; my hair was curled into soft waves and I wore a headband with a variety of pink and yellow flowers woven into it.

Clive’s breath caught in his throat. “You are absolutely, stunningly fucking beautiful. I can't wait to see Richard’s face when he first lays eyes on you.” I did a little twirl for Clive and he snapped a few photos with the DSLR camera he had specifically bought for this occasion.

I giggled and embraced my best friend. “Thank you for coming,” I said. “For being here with me.”

“Thank you for including me.”

“How could I not?” I asked. “You are my fucking best friend! Even if I didn’t invite you, you’d still show up anyway.”

Clive shrugged. “You’re right. I wouldn’t fucking miss this for the world.” He offered me an arm. “Are you ready?”

I giggled and nodded. “I am so fucking excited, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I’m having massive palpitations and almost diaphoretic. Is this how you felt?”

“Like the universe could fucking end tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter because you’re getting married today? Yeah, that sounds right.”

\---

Clive poked his head into the marriage license office and asked the men inside if they were ready to begin. After they gave the affirmative, Clive looked back at me and said, “Last chance to run for the hills, Winnie.” He smiled at me, knowing that was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to do.

My smile broadened and I nodded at my best friend. He held up one finger, waiting for his cue. As soon as what sounded like an asthmatic flute started, Clive pulled door open and I walked into the office. Lee, who was standing a little off to Richard’s side, had pulled a kazoo from his jacket pocket and tooted _Here Comes the Bride_. Richard turned towards his friend in surprise, not recalling us planning a kazoo serenade as part of the ceremony.

I giggled. Richard was wearing a three-piece blue suit with a white shirt and a striped red tie. The red of his tie matched the red of my dress.

Hearing me giggle, Richard turned away from Lee to look at me. His knees went weak when he saw me. His breath was completely taken away as he looked upon me, the woman who was going to be his wife in a few minutes. He licked his lips nervously. He couldn’t hear the clicks of the camera shutter as Clive took photos because of the roaring thuds of his heart beat.

Richard held out his hands, palms up, and I accepted them. His smile widened.

“Are we ready?” the officiant asked.

We nodded at the officiant, too stunned by how surreal everything felt. We both acknowledged that the situation was borderline ridiculous, but exactly perfect. We didn’t feel there was anything rash about our decision to forgo a traditional wedding ceremony and elope. We loved each other so truly and deeply for so long that we didn’t want to delay the next step of our relationship any more than it needed to be.

“Richard, if you would like to say your vows.”

Richard cleared his throat and looked me straight in the eyes. “Dr. Avery Nguyen…. I gave you my heart, you gave me yours, and I felt fuller than I have ever felt in my entire life. You gave me everything I was looking for and things I didn’t know I was looking for. I gave you the world to explore; you gave me a home to always come back to.”

As Richard said those words to me, I began to cry, which in turn made Richard cry. His voice shaking, no longer in control of the overwhelming emotions he was experiencing, Richard said, “I love you. I love from here to the end eternity and all the way back to the beginning of time.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the same ring he proposed to me with. With shaking hands, Richard placed the ring on the fourth finger of my left hand. I smiled at Richard; Richard smiled back at me.

The officiant patiently waited for me to wipe way my tears before addressing me. “Avery, your vows, please.”

“Well,” I managed to squeak out. “My vows aren’t nearly as articulate as yours.” We all chuckled, knowing that I was never as articulate as Richard, with “fuck” being my favorite word in the English language.

I cleared my throat. “Richard Armitage… In life, there is always hope; in hope, there is always love. Thank you for opening the universe and giving me a future filled with love. I look forward to passing through life at your side, and together I know we will achieve all our hearts could ever hope for.

“I love you,” I repeated back to Richard. “I love from here to the end eternity and all the way back to the beginning of time.”

I turned slightly and took Richard’s ring from Clive. With shaking hands, I placed the ring on the fourth finger of Richard’s left hand. I started to cry again, but before I could wipe the tears away, Richard reached up with his right hand and wiped the tears from my face.

“Now I need you both to sign this.” The officiant pushed a few pieces of paper across the desk, with little sticky labels indicating all the places we needed to sign. He offered the pen first to Richard. After we finished signing, the officiant smiled and nodded at the both of us.

“By the power vested in me by the State of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Richard, you may kiss your bride.”

We didn’t kiss right away. Richard placed one arm around my waist and cupped my face with his other hand. We pressed out foreheads together, looking to each other’s eyes. We felt the happiness and warmth and steadiness of our love. We felt the disappointment from when we were apart. We felt the tranquility of lying beside each other. We felt the excitement of the future yet to come.

Then he pulled me to him and kissed me. As we kissed, Clive and Lee clapped and cheered for us from the sidelines.

\---

“Alright, now that we’ve opened the champagne and toasted each other in celebration of the miniature family that we have become, I would like to get this party started!” Clive said. He walked over to our stereo system and inserted a mix tape that he had made for us.

“Will Dr. and Mr. Armitage please come into the living room and dance?”

“Dr. and Mr. Armitage?” Richard asked.

“Well… yes,” Clive responded. “Winnie is smarter and more accomplished than you will ever be, therefore she deserves to come first in the relationship. Besides, as the wife she should always come first.”

Laughing, I wrapped my arms around Richard’s neck and began to dance with him. Richard rolled his eyes, but we all knew that he agreed with Clive completely. As we danced, I laid my head on Richard’s shoulder; we didn’t say anything to each other because we had nothing left to say. We simply enjoyed the first of thousands of dances we would share as a married couple.

After the song ended, I danced with Clive.

“By the way, if you don’t invite me to the baby shower, I will be fucking disappointed.”

I laughed. “Who said anything about having children?”

“It’s the natural progression of things, Winnie.” He grinned at me. “Maybe not soon, but eventually.”

“What about you?’ I asked. “Are you and Sarah having children soon?”

Clive shrugged. “Don’t know. But you will be the fucking first one to know.”

Then I danced with Lee.

“I thought you said tall people don’t dance,” I teased.

“I’ll make an exception for you on your wedding day.” He chuckled. “I mean, on your elopement day.”

We danced without speaking for a few moments.

“So… are we going to see a tamed Avery from now on?”

“No fucking way. Me? Tamed? If anything, you’re going to get a more wild Richard.”

Lee shrugged. “I hope you and Richard never become of those boring couples.”

“Me, too.”

Then I danced with my husband again. As we danced, Clive and Lee discreetly departed.

“Dr. Avery Nguyen Armitage, my dearest Winnie, my wife,” Richard said softly to me as we danced around the living room.

“Say that again,” I giggled. “I like the sound of that, husband.”

“My wife. My better half.”

I made a dramatic sigh. "I suppose I did marry down. I should have married someone who would be my better half, than being his better half."

Richard chuckled and gave me a deep kiss. "I love you so much I would never let it happen."

"I love you, too."

\---

“Richard! Richard!”

Richard was making his way down the press line at the LA movie premiere. He looked up and smiled at his friend, Marlise Boland from the Anglophile Channel. He approached her and gave her a hug.

“I know we’re supposed to talk about your movie, but we need have to talk about the really big, new thing that recently happened to you.”

“About what?”

“That!” She pointed at Richard’s left hand.

“Oh.” Richard held up his hand to the camera, showing off the gold band on his ring finger.

“Congratulations on getting married!”

“Thank you, thank you.”

“When was the wedding? Why wasn’t I invited?”

Richard laughed. “There wasn’t a wedding.” Richard grinned, brimming with happiness. “We eloped two days ago. And it was so much fun. Best decision of my life.”

“You what?!”

“Eloped. I finished a job and flew home, we went to the civic office, and now here I am.” Richard shrugged.

“Are we going to see some photos?”

“Nope.” He grinned maliciously.

“I also noticed the complete lack of a beard.”

Richard shrugged and traced his jaw with his left hand. “Decree from the wife for the wedding. She says it’s sexy to look at, but likens it to snogging a Brillo pad.”


	6. Chapter 6

It was a little past 10PM when I got home from work. All the lights were off, so I assumed that Richard was sleeping. Richard had flown home this afternoon and I knew that he suffered terribly from jet lag. I tried to be as quiet as I could, shaking my head as I tried to concoct reasons for him to ease back on his workload. The problem was that I was just as career-driven as him, so whatever I said would be hypocritical.

After wolfing down a late dinner/snack combination, I slipped into the bathroom. I jumped in fright as I turned on the lights. Richard was sitting on the floor with a bucket between his legs, leaning against the wall as if he had no bones in his body. Richard looked up at me; his eyes had sunken deep into his face and he had very dark circles under them.

“I hoped you wouldn’t find me like this,” he said in a flat tone, blinking a few times to let his eyes adjust to the sudden light.

I kneeled down, cupped his face with one hand, and ran my hand through his hair. “What happened?” I asked, my voice cracking. I knew Richard sometimes took one tough jobs, but I had never seen him look so beaten down like this. My heart ached and I was torn between comforting my husband and murdering the film’s director.

He looked away and didn’t answer me, but he didn’t pull away. I waited several minutes, but Richard wouldn’t offer any explanation. I finally took a seat next to him and pulled him into my arms.

“How long has this been going on?” I asked.

“Since we started shooting.”

Filming had started three weeks ago.

“You need to get out of there,” I whispered. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“I can do this.”

“Richard,” I said slowly, “You can’t shake him; you’re fighting a battle you can’t win. Please stop before it’s too late.”

Before he could respond, Richard doubled over and retched some more into the bucket. Rising to my feet, I got him a cup of water to rinse his mouth. I handed him the glass and sat on the edge of the sink counter. He swished the terrible flavor from his mouth and glared at me. It was as if my kindness only caused him more discomfort.

As I opened my mouth to say something else, he shouted, “Shut up!” He screamed at me. “I will do this role. There is no quitting. If it kills me, it will kill me.”

“Richard, this is not okay.” I shook my head at my husband. “Not only is the role emotionally destroying you, it’s physically destroying you. As a doctor, I can tell you what you’re doing is medically unsafe.”

“You have your career! Let me have mine!” he shouted at me.

I opened my mouth to make a rebuttal, but he cut me off before I could say anything. “I know what I’m doing. Stop pretending like you completely understand me. Sometimes I even wonder why I married you.” He pulled his marriage band from his finger and threw it out into the hallway.

Tears formed my eyes as I watched the elegant band of disappear under the furniture. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep myself from crying. When that didn’t help much, I bit on the soft tissue between my thumb and pointer finger. I knew he didn’t mean it. I knew that he was stuck in some weird head space. But that knowledge didn’t make it any easier to hear those words.

Richard didn’t stop, though. He slowly rose to his feet and shook his fist at me. “I wished I never married you, that I never met you. You are pathetic. You are nothing without me. You are just some miserable fucker who works incessantly because she can’t handle the fact that she’s unlovable.”

I didn’t say anything in response. Tears came rolling down my cheeks.

“Yes.” He said it with a matter-of-fact tone. “Yes, if I could go back in time I would have never called you.”

“I… I…” Richard stuttered and he choked back some vomit. Without thinking, I extended the bucket to his mouth and he let all the content of his already empty stomach out.

His angry rant continued for another hour, with vomiting in between. I sat there and took all of his words, telling myself internally that he didn’t mean what he said.

Exhausted and winded, he sat down and said, “You are a bitch, you know that? I have never a woman more cruel and vicious that you.”

Closing his eyes, he fell asleep; his energy was completed drained as his anger vanished. I sat down next to him and cradled him. I still wanted to cry, but I had run out of tears halfway through his ranting. I knew he was going to have a serious neck ache to he slept like this, so I shifted a little and rested his head on my lap. I gently massaged his shoulders and mindlessly repeated medical information. I found that continuously rehearsing and focusing on my work helped me to cope with my pain.

It was only more proof about the primary chasm of our marriage: more often than not we needed our work more than we needed each other. The knowledge burned me, but I knew that it was one of those things that you just have to accept no matter how unpleasant. Life would pass and things would change, but our work would always be there for us.

A few hours later, Richard rolled onto his back and looked up at me. I was still sitting there, with my eyes closed, reviewing an interesting case I had a few days ago. He sat up and blinked a couple times, focusing himself. I looked down at him. “Are you feeling better?” I asked in a hoarse voice.

He nodded, remembering all the things he said to me. Ashamed of himself, he said, “Why are you still here?” He stared at the empty space on his left hand ring finger.

I shrugged. “I know you didn’t mean those things you said.” I shrugged again. “Your ring is somewhere under the furniture in the office.”

Richard stared at me. “I don’t understand.”

“Richard,” I started. I reached out and laced my fingers through his. “How can you look at the man you love, watch him go through immense pain, and walk away?”

“I’m sorry.” Richard started crying. “I’m so sorry. I don’t deserve you.”

“Promise me that you are going to work with me on this. You are going to tell me whenever things like this happen. So I can be there for you.”

\---

We made our premiere as a couple on the red carpet at the BAFTAs. Richard and his film had been nominated for several categories and it was important to Richard that I come with him. I kept denying it, but Richard insisted that he never would have pulled through filming without me at his side.

I was so overwhelmed by the cameras and the screams. I told myself that if I could fix literal broken hearts, then I could damn well fucking survive this. I put my best smile on.

Richard noticed my unease and gave me a squeeze. We were posing with his arm wrapped around my waist. Pressing his lips against my ear, he asked, “Are you doing alright?”

I smiled back at my husband. “It’s a little overwhelming.” I chuckled. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Richard smiled back at me. “You’re a trooper.” He kissed me on the cheek.

Suddenly a flurry of shouts came our way and I flinched.

Richard gave me another squeeze. “Just hang on a little longer… Oh! Lee’s coming back this way. He’ll take care of you.”

I laughed. “You make is sound like I have to be passed from one guardian to another.”

Richard shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

Lee and I met each other’s gaze from across the distance. He quickly approached us. Lee shook hands with Richard and then scooped me up into a big hug. It had a been a while since we last saw each other, even though we had last spoken on the phone with each other this morning. With Clive gone, I filled most of the empty space with Lee.

Lee offered me his arm, like a gentleman, and lead me away, leaving Richard alone to tackle the press.

\---

As soon as they announced Richard’s name, he turned in his seat to me and gave me a kiss.

Then he made his way to the podium to accept his award. He cleared his throat before speaking; after thanking his director, cast, and crew, Richard said, “There’s one person I’d like to thank in particular… I’d like to thank my loving wife, who never abandons me whether I need her or not. This award is really for her, for carrying me when I was too exhausted to walk on my own.”


	7. Chapter 7

Kneeling on the side of the bed, I nuzzled Richard until he woke up. When he opened his eyes and looked me, I gave him a big kiss.

“What is it?” he asked. “What time is it?”

I smiled brightly at him. “I’m starving. Get up so we can eat.” I had already showered and dressed. “It’s almost 4:30.”

He moaned and rolled over on his side away from me. “Go ask Tom.”

I pouted at him for a minute, but realizing he really wanted to stay in bed, I got up and left. I had keys to all the other men’s rooms, so I let myself in and demanded that go to breakfast with me. Tom was already up because he was still on London time, so he helped me to bother Lee.

I dragged Richard out of bed and helped him dress himself. He wore a black t-shirt with jeans and a black baseball hat. “I already went downstairs and talked to the concierge. He recommended a great breakfast place down the street.”

Literally bouncing with excitement for food, I led my company of men to the restaurant. We ordered and ate. Because I swallowed everything with a voracity that no one was expecting, Richard gave me some of his meal. Lee was too tired to eat much, so I finished off half of his plate. Then Tom surrendered some food to me.

“Are you okay?” Lee asked, shaking his head at me. “Where does all the food go?”

I nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just starving.” I was lying; the only time I ate incredible amounts of food was when I was nervous. I did the same thing when I took my medical licensing boards.

Tom and I made eye contact. Tom smiled me, knowing that something else was probably happening. I lifted one eyebrow at him, as if to threaten him not to say anything. Tom’s grin widened.

“What’s up with you two?” Lee asked, looking back and forth between the two of us. “It looks like you’re plotting something.”

“We should bring doughnuts to your fans camping out outside Hall H!” I said. “I think it would blow their minds.”

“Yes!” Tom added. He was the only one who was able to keep up with my unbridled enthusiasm. Richard had once admitted he gets exhausted just from looking at the two of us run around together. “That would be so much fun! What else are we going to do at 6:00?”

I was already on my feet, looking expectantly at the men.

Richard sighed and rose to his feet. “You and Tom go buy doughnuts. I need a shower before I interact with other people or I’m going to be grumpy.” He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss.

Tom linked arms with me. “Come, darling.”

Lee swallowed the last of his coffee. “You fucking married her.”

Richard rubbed his eyes. “You would’ve fucking married her if I didn’t.”

\---

I gave each of the gentlemen three boxes, each box with a dozen donuts. “Spread out and have fun!” I said as we approached the crowd lined up outside Hall H. It was still too early for there to be too many additional people loitering around; most of the people in line were still sleeping.

“My name is Carly. I run an online blog,” one of the girls said to me as Richard handed out doughnuts to the next few people waiting in line. “Can I interview you?”

I chuckled. “You don’t want to interview me.”

“A large portion of my video subscribers are fans of Richard and would love to get to know you a little bit.”

I shrugged. “Let me hand out the rest of these doughnuts before they get cold. Then I’ll swing back and chat with you while the gents greet the rest of the people here.”

Carly smiled brightly at me. “Thank you!”

As the gentlemen went through the rest of the line, I went back and found Carly. Carly said that she wanted to ask me questions; when she went home, she would edit in an introduction and exit. She had her friend, Elyssa, film the interview on a phone camera.

“How did you meet Richard?”

“Entirely coincidence. I was sitting on a park bench next to him.”

“How do you feel about the Armitage Army?”

“I sincerely appreciate all the support they give my husband; the Armitage Army is a very generous and loving group of individuals. When we got married, we received some very thoughtful gifts from some of them. They’re also the reason he has a job, even if his paycheck is smaller than mine.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a doctor.”

“Does it bother you that women, and men, around the world lust after Richard?”

I chuckled. “I don’t blame them.”

“What’s Richard like at home?”

“Very tender and loving.”

“Who’s tender and loving?” Lee asked. He propped his elbow on my head, as if I was an arm rest.

“My husband.”

“Damn,” Lee said. “I was hoping you’d say me.”

Both Carly and Alyssa were too overwhelmed by the sudden presence of Lee Pace they didn’t have words. They got a chance to meet Richard earlier, but Lee had been working a different section of the line. They both stared at us incredulously.

Lee smiled at the camera. “Hello!” He gave a small wave. “Let me tell you; this woman is one of my favorite people on Earth. She has a great sense of humor and is very, very good at sliding in jokes. One time, they had to send her away from set because I couldn’t keep a straight face with her lurking around.”

“Aw,” I cooed. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

Lee leaned his head down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

When he straightened up, he said, “Are we bad mouthing your foul-tempered and moody husband?”

I gave Lee a conspiratorial nod. “He has terrible breath in the morning.”

“And he’s quite hairy.”

“Leaves his dirty clothes all over the house.”

“Chews with his mouth open.”

“Doesn’t do dishes.”

“Has terrible body odor.”

“An idiot with technology.”

“Bad sense of fashion.”

While we were listing things off rapid-fire, we were looking into the camera. We couldn’t stop giggling when we glanced at each other. “I’m just kidding,” I managed to squeak out in between giggles. “Those things are not true.”

Lee shrugged. “Some of them are.”

“What’s happening over here?” Richard asked as he approached. Addressing the camera, he said, “You can’t leave these two together for too long; they start planning mischievous things.”

“We were just bad mouthing you,” I offered.

Richard made an over-exaggerated expression of surprise.

“We should get going,” he whispered in my ear, while sliding an arm around my waist. I nodded my agreement.

“Have fun at Comic Con!” I said to the two girls. “Thank you for inviting me for an interview.” I gave them a small wave and we all turned to leave.

“Can we get a quick kiss? For the fans?” Carly managed to shout out.

“Do it,” Lee said. “Do it.”

I gave Lee some side eye and Richard shook his head.

“Do it,” Lee repeated.

“Please?” Carly asked.

“Do it,” Lee whined, dragging out the syllables.

Richard pulled me to him and kissed me like they do in the movies. Without another word, we left. Both Carly and Alyssa were standing there, their jaws dropped.

\---

“What’s the plan now?” Richard asked as we walked away from the convention center. As we walked, we held hands. The other three gentlemen walked behind us, swapping funny stories about the fans they had just met.

Richard glanced at his watch; it was only 8:30.

“It’s still early enough to go back to bed.”

I laughed and swung our hands back and forth. “The beach is just a few blocks away?” I pointed to the horizon. “You can see it from here.”

“I’ll race you there?”

“We both know you’ll win by a long shot.”

“Then I’ll carry you!”

Richard scooped me up in his arms and took off at a light jog to the beach.

“I’m going to back to bed!” Lee shouted after us as Richard started to put some distance on them. “Have fun!”

Richard set me down at the edge of the sand. We took off our shoes and Richard rolled his pants up; I was wearing a dress. Still holding hands, we chased and ran away from the tide. At one point, Richard leaned down to splash water on me.

We sat on the beach, looking out across the ocean. He had one arm around me and I leaned against his strong frame. Richard smiled at me and I smiled back at him.

This was the most fun we had in a long time. It was just the two of us, enjoying each other’s company. There was nothing we had to worry about; no fans to maintain public appearances around. This was the closest thing to a vacation we had taken together since the BAFTAs in February.

He kissed me a few times. “I love you, Dr. Avery Nguyen Armitage.”

“I love you, Mr. Richard Crispin Armitage.”

We sat in silence for a long time. It wasn’t a problem though; we were comfortable with silences. Richard laid down in the sand, his head in my lap. Our hands were locked together, our fingers intertwined.

“Husband?” I asked.

In the long silence, Richard had dozed off a little bit. He blinked a few times as he looked up at me.

“I… There’s something we need to talk about.”

“Hmm?”

I looked down at the sand for a moment before looking back at Richard. My heart was racing in my chest. I was smiling; I couldn’t help myself. “In seven and a half months, you’re going to be a father.” I giggled. “I’m pregnant.”

Richard’s mouth dropped open. He was so overcome by emotion he didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t stop looking at me. We weren’t trying to have a child, but we weren’t trying not to have on either. We had the attitude that it would happen if it was meant to be.

“Husband?” I asked.

“I… I… I don’t know what to say.” He shuddered, as if a spell was broken. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a father. I’m incredibly excited but fucking scared.”

I rose to my feet and held my hands out to Richard. He accepted them and I helped pull him to his feet. “Don’t think about it too much,” I said, giving him a kiss when he was standing up. I shrugged. “I’m the pregnant one; imagine how I feel!” I was somewhere between excitement and panic. "By the way, don't tell anyone yet. I've only told Clive, because his wife is an OB/GYN."

Leaving my shoes in the sand, I raced down to the water and let the water run up to my knees. I stood there, with my arms raised in the arm and enjoying the sunlight on my skin. I turned my head and smiled at Richard. It was all the encouragement he needed; he joined me.

Suddenly, he scooped me up in his arms. “This is the second best day of my life,” he said. He kissed me.

“What is the first?”

“When you married me.”

Richard set me back down in the sand. I lost my footing on the soft sand and fell into the water. We both doubled over with laughter. When Richard leaned over to help me up, Richard let me pull him down into the water. We laughed and kissed and laughed some more.

After a minute, we made our way back to our shoes. It was perfect timing because Lee was calling me on my phone.

“Hello, Lee,” I said, as I picked my phone up.

“Lunch?”

I glanced at my watch. It was 10:45; Richard and I had been running around the beach for longer than I thought. “Yes!” I exclaimed into the phone. “You know I’m always hungry.”

“Great. Tom and I will meet you at the restaurant.” Lee gave me the information and disconnected. It was a nice place next to the hotel. It was a convenient location because they had to do their panel discussion at 1:00.


	8. Chapter 8

After a quick lunch, Richard and I went back to our hotel room to shower. We had a mild discussion about what Richard should wear for his panel; we both had a poor sense of fashion and picking out what Richard should wear took quite a bit of effort. We decided on a crisp pale blue button-down shirt and jeans.

"I think you should undo one more button," I said.

"Not to risque?" Richard asked, following my advice. He looked in the mirror and laughed; it was definitely one button too many undone. Richard redid the button and gave me a sideways glance.

"What?" I demanded. "It's sexy."

"We're not going for sexy right now. Casual professional is good."

I shrugged. "No matter what you do, it's sexy." I rolled up Richard’s sleeves for him as he adjusted the collar of his shirt. "Might as well let me enjoy the view."

"Are you coming with us to the panel?"

I shook my head, having little to no interest in dealing with the crowds. The BAFTA red carpet was bad enough; Comic Con was a whole different animal I was not ready to deal with.

“What are you going to do while we’re working?” Richard asked.

I shrugged. “I think I’ll curl up here and take a nap…” I smiled coyly at my husband.

He leaned down and kissed me. “I hate you,” Richard replied in between kisses.

I laughed. “You love me and you know it.”

Richard kissed me one more time. “Yeah, I do.”

\---

“May we have the first audience question?” the moderator asked.

A young man stepped up to the microphone. “Before I ask my question, I would like just like to thank the director for putting this all-star cast in this amazing story. This movie is literally every nerd’s wet dream.”

The panel and audience laughed.

“I also have a request. Richard, can you tell your wife thank you for suggesting that you and these other fine gentlemen should come visit those of us who camped out overnight and bring us warm doughnuts? I met her this morning and she’s lovely.”

Richard leaned forward. “You can keep her for the rest of the weekend. She woke me up at 4:30 this morning to get breakfast. We’re barely halfway through the day and I’m exhausted.”

The audience burst out into another round of laughter.

The young man cleared his throat. “My actual question is for Lee and Tom. Because you play an engineer and a doctor, respectively, you both mentioned that you volunteered to go through special training to make your acting more realistic. Can you describe what this training was like?”

Lee threw his head back and laughed. After composing himself, he leaned forward into the microphone and said, “Yeah, sure. The training was…” he paused, trying to find words that weren’t going to come out sounding rude. Lee and I weren’t shy around each other, but we didn’t need the public to know. “One of the most grueling and the most rewarding experiences I ever had. I’m not very good at math, so I found a calculus tutor and she’s not the most…”

Lee giggled and ran his hand over his face. He turned to Richard and said, “I’m sorry, Richard, but it has to come out.” Lee looked back at the young man who asked the question. “My tutor was Richard’s wife and she’s a fucking slave driver.”

The audience broke out in laughter and Lee waited for them to settle down before continuing his answer. Richard shot daggers at Lee with his eyes.

“Mrs. Armitage doesn’t suffer fools lightly. She actually gave me homework and chewed me out if I didn’t try hard enough or didn’t focus. She once got so mad at me that she kicked me out of her house! She was like, ‘I refuse to waste my time and effort on a fucking pathetic piece of shit who does not have the fucking common decency to reciprocate the same.’”

Lee pulled a face to indicate that what I had said to him was the most scathing thing anyone had ever said to him. But he quickly returned to smiling.

“Mrs. Armitage may have high standards, but there something about the way she stares you down that makes you want to meet those standards. Because of her, I actually can do basic calculus.

“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I love her. I would have married her if Richard was stupid enough not to marry her. She is the most intelligent and compassionate and sincere and energetic person I know. But if you’re going to ask her a favor, you better be prepared because she goes full tilt.”

Tom leaned forward, all smiles. “I have to agree with Lee about everything he says about her; she’s one of my favorite people on this planet.” He cleared his throat. “Luckily for me, though, I got a much different experience with her.

“She’s not the same kind of doctor that I play in the movie, but there was still a lot I could learn from her. I shadowed her and saw how she interacts with real patients with real diseases. Lee’s right when he says she doesn’t suffer fools; but she is very forgiving if you genuinely don’t know. She is an excellent teacher and you see the trust that she builds with her patients as they go through what probably is the scariest times of their lives. It was such an eye-opening experience because we’re used to only seeing medicine from one side of the story. It’s not like it is in TV.

“But I did face the wrath of Dr. Armitage a few times. One time she was training me to deliver babies in a simulator room; you interact with a dummy, but there’s someone in a different room operating all the controls. The dummy has a speaker so the operator can talk to you, it blinks and has a pulse; it’s so realistic. Anyway, there’s so much fake blood and fluids that I kept dropping the baby! She is exhausted because this is the third or fourth time we’ve done this, so she turns to me and says, ‘If you drop the baby one more time, I swear, I fucking swear, I will sew fucking giant mittens onto your fucking hands so you fucking never drop anything again.’

“You should have seen the glare.” Tom shivered, remembering how frightened of me he was in that moment. Then Tom shrugged. “Anyway, if any women are giving birth on the side of the road, I have the skills to deliver your baby!”

The audience laughed.

“Maybe the key to the perfect marriage is to be terrified of your wife!” Lee threw in.

The audience laughed even harder.

“The key to the perfect marriage is to accept the fact that your wife is always right,” Richard said. “It’s easy in my case because she actually is always right. My wife is the most well put together woman on this planet.”

\---

There was a question for the director of the film. “You said once in an interview that directing this group of actors was one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done. Not because they’re bad actors, but because they keep goofing off. Can you share any stories or did you find any techniques that worked particularly well?”

“Even though they did goof off quite a bit, I didn’t mind it that much. Because they are very good friends in real life, you get another level of authenticity to the relationship between their characters. There are several nuances that they each bring from their real lives to their characters that make the story that much more believable. They’re also not afraid of each other, so they are very collaborative and are willing to push each other to the limits. And it was hard to stay angry at them because their good mood was infectious.

“As for techniques that worked well in terms of keeping theme in line…” The director shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “You’ll notice there’s a theme for the production this film: Richard Armitage’s wife.”

The audience laughed.

“Christians like to believe that God was a tall, White man with long, flowing brown locks. Let me tell you; God is actually a tiny, adorable Asian woman known to us as Mrs. Armitage. She was my Savior because she bent these men to her will like nothing I’ve ever seen before. She has this smile that turns them to putty in her hands.”


	9. Chapter 9

Richard came home and found me crying in my office. I was sitting on the floor with my back pressed against the wall, my knees pulled up to my chest.

Richard didn’t say anything. He sat down next to me and pulled me into his arms. I cried harder and he kissed me on the top of my head. He had no idea what I was crying; he assumed that it was probably the surge of hormones from the pregnancy. But nonetheless, his heart still broke when he saw me crying. He wondered how many nights this had been going on for, how many nights he left me on my own like this.

“I’m sorry,” I said, wiping the last tears from my eyes and sitting up. I was still upset, but I did not have any more tears left to shed. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“I am your husband,” Richard replied. “I am supposed to take care of you.” He gave me a squeeze. “What’s bothering you?”

I looked away. I knew how excited Richard was for the baby. He was already approaching fifty and he wasn’t getting any younger. He always had a desire to have a wife and children.

I faked a smile and lied. “Hormones.” I slowly rose to my feet. Because of the ever-growing baby, Richard had to help me. “I had a difficult case at work and it’s unprofessional to cry at work. Having the emotions bottled up all day didn’t really work in my favor.” I chuckled.

Richard was an actor. And he was my husband. He knew when I was lying to him. But he also knew that whatever it was that was bothering me, I would tell him when I was ready. The total understanding and patience we for in each other was part of the reason why our relationship was so successful.

\---

“Richard!” Lee said as he answered his phone. “How are you? How is your pregnant wife? Are we still getting together soon?”

Richard shuffled his feet and wandered absentmindedly around the room. He was silent on the line for a little too long.

“Richard? Is everything okay?”

“Avery’s not doing well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something is bothering her, but she won’t tell me what it is. Can you talk to her? You’re her best friend and she trusts you with everything. Maybe she’ll tell you. She’s never been like this before, not telling me things. I tried calling Clive, but he wouldn’t say anything to me either.”

Lee plopped himself on his couch and ran his hand through his hair. This was not the news he wanted to hear from his favorite couple.

“Lee?”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll talk to her. When is she coming home from work tonight?”

“Around 8:00. Come by at 9:00? I’ll find an excuse to go out and leave you two alone.”

\---

Richard went for a run. He claimed that he was still on a different time zone and needed the exercise to help him decompress and get back on New York time. We lived in a safe neighborhood, so I didn’t think much of it. I knew that Richard sometimes isolated himself to prepare for a role.

Lee came over to catch up. He brought lots of chocolate from all around the world, from all the places that he visited since he last came to visit me. We sat at opposite ends of the couch, our feet meeting in the middle.

Lee frowned at me when I wasn’t looking. He wasn’t sure if it was because he already knew something was wrong, but he thought I looked thinner than the last time he saw me. And he didn’t have to be an expert at pregnancies to know that women were supposed to put on lots of weight during pregnancy.

As we sampled the chocolates that Lee brought back, Lee told me all about the places where he picked them up. He told me funny stories about some of the merchants who sold him those chocolates.

“How are you, sweetheart?” he asked. He leaned over and reached out for my hand with his. “How is work?”

I reached out and clasped his hand in mine. I smiled at him for a few moments, before letting my smile fade in a slight frown. “Can I talk to you about something?” I had talked to about it with Clive and he reassured me that my feelings were normal, but I needed to hear it from another person.

Lee nodded. “Of course!”

We looked at each for a moment. I looked away and then back at Lee. Lee gave me an encouraging smile. On the inside though, he was panicking because I had never acted like this before. Whatever was bothering me was serious.

“I don’t want the baby,” I finally confessed. As terrible as it made me feel to say that, I felt immensely relieved that I told someone. It felt like the grip on my heart had loosened just slightly.

Lee tried to keep the surprise off his face, but I noticed.

Everything came out in a flurry of words. I started sobbing. “I always had dreams about my career. About all the places I would travel and the lives I would save as a doctor. But because I am having a baby, my career has ended before it has even started.” I hiccupped. “And I am so disappointed. I am so disappointed that I’m not going to have the career I always wanted. I’m not going to have the one thing that I have worked my entire life for.”

I pleaded with Lee with my eyes, as if he could say some magic words that I would have a completely different life. “And a small part of me resent Richard because of this. I know how much he wants to be a father. What if I’m a bad mother? What if resent my child for being the reason I gave up?”

Lee looked at me straight in the eyes as all the words came out. He knew he couldn’t fix me, but he knew that facing my fears with me was the best support that he could give me. Lee didn’t say anything until all the words stopped pouring out and the tears stopped flowing.

Lee held me tight against him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to tell you.” Lee was heartbroken. I had been there for him for everything that ever happened. Yet the one time I needed Lee, he didn’t’ know what to do.

“Have you talked to Richard about this?” Lee asked.

I shook my head. “I talked to Clive, and he said that it’s normal… But… I’m worried that if I tell Richard, he’ll feel guilty. As if he was responsible for my… disappointment. I don’t want this to rip us apart. I love Richard with all my heart. But I have to save some for myself.”

“For what it’s worth, this is what I think. I don’t see why you can’t have the career you always wanted. You may not have it right away and according to the master plan you constructed decades ago, but that doesn’t mean you will never have it. Besides, by virtue of you being you, you will let nothing stop you for being a fucking incredible doctor.

“I think that once you accept this, the resentment will pass. Richard also loves you with all his heart; he will understand. And he will continue to love you with all his heart. As for the case of being a mother, I cannot possibly image you being a bad mother. You raised me! You made me into the man that I am today. You are a woman who oozes compassion and generosity; that will not change because you are a mother. And the child will have me for a godfather; that’s probably the biggest mistake you’re ever going to make.”

I chuckled. Lee smiled at me as he saw the tiniest crack in my misery. He leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “You are Dr. Avery Nguyen Armitage. You are God herself and unstoppable.”

\---

The following morning, when I was at work, Lee had lunch with Richard to share what we talked about last night. Richard experienced a wide range of emotions, but like Lee said, he understood. He didn’t like it, but he understood.

“I didn’t just hurt her. I killed her. Being a doctor is the core of her being; and I killed it.” Richard shook his head and ran his hands through his hair.

Lee placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You didn’t do anything except love her. All you need to do is continue to love her. She will probably never tell you about her feelings, but she needs you to be strong. She needs to know that you will continue to love her no matter what happens.”

Richard nodded. “I can do that.”

“We also can’t let her give up on her dreams. It will be a hard path for her, balancing demanding work with motherhood, but if anyone can do it, it will be her. We have to be there to support her.”

“We,” Richard breathed out. He looked up at Lee. He looked at the man who put all of this in motion, being stranded on the side of the road and then becoming best friends with me. He looked at the man who loved his wife just as much as he did.

“Thank you, Lee,” Richard said. He gave Lee a sincere hug.

“Whoa,” Lee said, gently pushing Richard away from him. “This is new. I’m affectionate with your wife, but this is… Let’s not.”

Richard chuckled. “The secret to a happy marriage is having friends you trust. Thank you.”

\---

“I only have you for another five minutes. Let’s talk about your wife.” The interviewer smiled.

“Indeed.” Richard took a deep drink of his tea. “Do you have any advice on how to prevent the hormonal rages?”

The interviewer laughed, recalling her own experiences as a mother. Shaking her head, she said, “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Richard sighed.

“How far along is she?”

“Five months.”

“You’re already past the halfway point! The hormonal rages will pass soon enough; my husband says I mellowed out around seven months.”

Richard rubbed his eyes. “Thank goodness. I worry so much about her; the other day Lee called me to tell me she tried to kill the neighbor’s cat with a broom for digging up her plants.” He rolled his shoulders. “I am not prepared to handle this.”

“You’ll be fine.” She patted Richard on the arm.

“I used to laugh at my brother when he complained when his wife was pregnant. Now it’s reversed and he’s laughing at me. And according to him, my wife is much worse than normal women.”

The interviewer laughed. “You’re just a pansy because you’re used to a very calm, collected, reserved, sweet wife.”

Richard laughed. “You’re probably right.”

“Are you expecting a boy or a girl?”

“Boy.”

“Did you pick a name yet?”

“Not yet. She has a name she really likes, so we will probably go with that.” He chuckled. “She wants our son to have a very British-sounding name like me. But we have agreed that we will not name our child after either of said child’s godfathers.”

“She’s not British. Right?”

“Vietnamese-American.”

“Have you learned any Vietnamese?”

“I can recognize a few phrases. She only speaks Vietnamese with her parents, so she doesn’t even speak it that much.”

\---

Just before I was overcome with exhaustion, the nurse placed my screeching son in my arms. As I held the eight pounds of life in my arms, I began to smile and to cry. I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement. I looked up from my son to my husband. We didn't have the words to describe how we felt, so we just smiled at each other. It felt like my heart had grown five sizes and filled every cell of my body with love.

I woke up a few hours later to the sound of Lee and Clive cooing to my son. They were off in the corner, Lee bouncing the infant in his arms and whispering sweet phrases. Richard was sitting in a chair next to the bed, holding my hand. When he saw me wake up, he leaned over and kissed me.

“Do you want to hold your son?” Richard asked. I nodded, not saying anything. Richard made a gesture and Lee brought the infant over.

“He’s beautiful, just like his mother,” Lee said.

"He's a perfect blend of his father's and mother's features."

I held my son in my arms. I nuzzled the boy and he made a happy noise.

“What do you want to name him?” Richard asked. He smiled at me.

I smiled back up at my husband. “Landon Kelley,” I said. “Landon Kelley Armitage.”

Lee groaned. “That’s such a British name,” Lee replied when I gave him some side eye. “I was hoping you were going to name him really American, like after me.”

I laughed. “We already agreed are not naming our son after you. It’s already bad enough we let you be the godfather.”

Clive shrugged. "It's a fitting name for a very posh family."

We all laughed.

\---

“What’s this?” I asked. I held up the wrapped package on my desk.

Richard shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. “A gift.”

I frowned. “I didn’t get you a gift… Now I feel like a fucking loser.”

“Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t planning on it, but it sort of just happened.” Richard smiled at me. “Just open it.”

I peeled away the old newspaper and opened the box. Inside was another wrapped box. I raised an eyebrow at Richard and he just smiled back at me. After several more iterations of opening boxes to reveal more boxes, I finally held a ring box in my hands.

I stared at the beautifully crafted ring. It was a titanium band with massive diamonds set on it. I just looked up from the ring at Richard, at a loss of words.

“Do you like it?” Richard asked. “I thought you’d like to have a proper marriage ring. A ring that shouts out that you belong to me, and to me alone. One you can wear it when you’re not at work.”

I slipped the ring onto my finger, next to the ring Richard had given me when we eloped.

“What do you think?” I asked, holding up my hand for Richard. The light caught and sparkled off the diamonds. “I think I’m going to be the envy of women all over the globe.” I walked over and kissed my husband. “Thank you.”

Richard kissed me back. “Who said you weren’t already the envy of women all over the globe already?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I sincerely appreciate all your support.  
> 


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